sioux spike union pacific

as the Sioux looked on./ The spike for the Union Pacific had entered // my heart (4.XXXIV.ii).

The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads, built to link the eastern states of America with the newly settled west, were famously completed in 1869 when workers drove a golden spike into the final section of track that linked the two lines, making it the first transcontinental railroad. This accelerated the emigration of white Americans onto the Great Plains, together with the American government’s campaign to clear the Plains of their nomadic Native American populace (Bib:15b; Bib:17). Significantly, in photographs documenting the ceremony, Native Americans can be seen hopelessly looking on. The metaphorical piercing of the heart of the Sioux country – as well as the narrator’s heart – with this railroad spike evokes pathos as it represents the end of Native American freedom in North America.

Amanda Hopkins : 21 May 2008 11:19 |  Tags: Catherine Weldon Characters Colonisalism Context Dispossession North America Peoples Sioux Sioux Spike Union Pacific Usa |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem